VacationSelector
Praia Mole in Florianopolis, Florianopolis
FlorianopolisPraia Mole in Florianopolis
Colourful houses in the old town, Mazatlan
MazatlanColourful houses in the old town

Photos: Florianopolis by Papa Pic, CC0; Mazatlan by Gzzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.

Florianopolis or Mazatlan?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Florianopolis for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Florianopolis’s own page.

Choose Mazatlan for

  • getting around
  • live music and the arts
  • prices

What lies behind each score is written up on Mazatlan’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Florianopolis 85, Mazatlan 80: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
Food & drink. Florianopolis 58, Mazatlan 62: Mazatlan leads by 4 points.
Culture & sights. Florianopolis 33, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 9 points.
Nightlife. Florianopolis 60, Mazatlan 55: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
Nature & outdoors. Florianopolis 78, Mazatlan 66: Florianopolis leads by 12 points.
Day trips. Florianopolis 50, Mazatlan 45: Florianopolis leads by 5 points.
Good for families. Florianopolis and Mazatlan are level on 60.
Getting around. Florianopolis 28, Mazatlan 42: Mazatlan leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Florianopolis 33, Mazatlan 30: Florianopolis leads by 3 points.
Affordability. Florianopolis 60, Mazatlan 70: Mazatlan leads by 10 points.
Live music & performing arts. Florianopolis 28, Mazatlan 40: Mazatlan leads by 12 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Florianopolis 45, Mazatlan 35: Florianopolis leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Florianopolis and Mazatlan.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Florianopolis
52match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Mazatlan
52match

Wins on getting around and live music and the arts with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Florianopolis in July

21 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
91 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
18 °Csea
11 hdaylight a day

Mazatlan in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
29 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300JFMAMJJASOND
FlorianopolisMazatlan

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Florianopolis: 1991-2020 normals, Florianopolis (1.7 km from centre). Mazatlan: 1991-2020 normals, Colonia Juan Carras-Co Mazatlan, Sin. (2 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureFlorianopolisMazatlan
Official languagePortugueseSpanish, Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya
CurrencyBrazilian Real (BRL)Mexican Peso (MXN)
SocketsCN60 HzAB127 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideRightRight
Time zoneUTC-3UTC-7
Emergency numberPolice 190, ambulance 192, fire 193911
Elevation3 m139 m
Main airportHercílio Luz International Airport (FLN)9 km from centre21 non-stop destinationsGeneral Rafael Buelna International Airport (MZT)16 km from centre23 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year14 days9 days

By the numbers

MeasureFlorianopolisMazatlan
City population587,486441,975
People per km²870-
Museums within 10 km113
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C7 months12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Florianopolis or Mazatlan somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-11-02. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.